Postmates has officially entered the race for on-demand same-day delivery in beauty. This week, the delivery app launched Shop, a designated shopping section on its app that features brands including Anastasia Beverly Hills, Osea, Caudalie, Hourglass Cosmetics, Le Labo perfume and independent retailer Beauty Collection.
Postmates joins a bevy of last-mile and on-demand delivery services that now cater to beauty brands and customers. In August, GoPuff signed up Coty-owned brands Covergirl, Rimmel and Sally Hansen, and in September Sephora partnered with Instacart. But now Postmates has one of the biggest tie-ups with beauty brands to-date, with at least eight brands — it was already working with MAC Cosmetics on same-day delivery for its e-commerce shoppers, through a partnership that started on Oct. 15. Fashion and lifestyle brands like Ba&sh and Zadig & Voltaire are also available through Shop.
Shop, which is currently only available in Los Angeles, operates as a separate tab from the food delivery portion of the Postmates app. With Shop, brands and retailers can configure hi-res photo catalogs and offer customers on-demand delivery, in-store pick-up and non-contact curbside pick-up. Brands with standalone retail stores or shop-in-shops are given a tablet to manage available inventory, and when a purchase is made, Postmates automatically dispatches a delivery person to pick it up.
“This year, Covid-19 really changed the landscape of how we purchase essentials, spend time recreationally and even how we treat ourselves,” said Heather DeLeon, Anastasia Beverly Hills director of sales. “Shop is an interesting opportunity, because it lets people get their hands on our products in a completely new way.”
Delivery fees range from $4.99 for standard delivery to $12.99 for priority, though Postmates unlimited-delivery subscribers will receive free delivery. Beginning in 2021, Shop service will expand to cities outside of Los Angeles, and it will become available nationwide by end of the year, said Mike Buckley, Postmates svp of business. He declined to state the next cities where Shop will be offered, but said Postmates has high penetration and the most delivery people across the Southwest and in Miami.
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“It is an opportunity to accelerate trends that are happening already, such as consumer desire for quicker and instant gratification, and more shifting to online purchasing,” said Buckley.
Buckley added that Amazon Prime has increased consumer expectations for what’s available and how fast they can get it, and positioned Postmates as an aid to local commerce in the struggle to keep pace with Prime delivery. With upcoming holiday shopping and existing shipping constraints across all major carriers, Buckley said on-demand delivery could alleviate some of that pressure for brands and retailers. Although the adoption of on-demand delivery has only now started to accelerate, Postmates has dabbled in working with fashion brands like Revolve as far back as 2016 and immediately before Covid-19 in February.
During this early rollout, Postmates will monitor what consumer categories receive the most interest, said Buckley. According to a Postmates spokesperson, at the onset of coronavirus in March. the app saw a 284% increase year-over-year in orders for beauty-related products. That included skin, bath & body, cosmetics and hair products. Buckley declined to share further sales order information.
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“Our intuition is that there’s going to be a lot of interest in beauty, personal care, home goods, apparel and more frequently [shopped categories], like flowers and hardware,” said Buckley. “We’re trying to create a fun, curated shopping experience.”
